Navajo's Tribal Council Votes To Outlaw Same-Sex Marriage

Published: April 26, 2005

The tribal council of the Navajo Nation has approved a bill to ban same-sex marriage. The tribal president has not decided whether to oppose the measure, his spokesman said Monday.

The spokesman for Joe Shirley Jr., the Navajo Nation president, said the tribal council backed the measure 63 to 0 on Friday despite Mr. Shirley's past opposition to such a ban.

''It appears to be government intrusion in personal lives,'' the spokesman, George Hardeen, said of the bill.

Mr. Hardeen added, however, ''It was a strong vote, and for all I know he might speak to his advisers and just sign it.''

In March, Mr. Shirley told reporters he favored a voter referendum if the tribe were to take a stand on same-sex marriage.

He has 10 days to sign the bill.

The debate on the reservation, in the Four Corners region of the Southwest, with 300,000 members the nation's largest reservation, mirrors that in many states where legislators and voters have sought to define marriage as a union of man and woman.

Historians say Native Americans once tolerated gays but turned against them when social attitudes changed with the arrival of Europeans.